For Whom the Bell Tolls

78 Foreigners Die in Bali in the First Six Months of 2014

(7/6/2014) The morgue at Bali’s Sanglah General Hospital handled the human remains of 78 foreigners during the period January – June 2014.

Of that total, 16 were determined to have died of unnatural causes, including poisoning (2), drowning (6), road accidents (3), suicide by hanging (3) and homicide (2).

In terms of nationalities, the 78 foreigners who perished in Bali over the six month period breaks down as follows:

Australian 15

USA 12

Dutch 9

Japan 6

Canada 4

French 4

Timor Leste 3

People’s Republic of China 3

German 3

Singapore 3

Poland 2

Russia 2

South Korea 2

Malaysia 1

Swiss 1

India 1

Belgian 1

Irish 1

Philippine 1

Iran 1

Italian 1

U.K. 1

Hungary 1

As reported by Nusa Bali and Bali Post, Sanglah Hospital charges between Rp. 500,000 to Rp. 600,000 per day for the storage of human remains of foreign nationals. Indonesians kept at the morgue are charged Rp. 50,000 per day.

These fees appear to be in contradiction to Government Regulation Number 45 of 2014 that sets the price for the storage of human remains at a government hospital at Rp. 350,000 a day – with no distinction made in the official tariff between the remains of locals and foreigners.